Man in vogue: The only guide to caps you’ll ever need

Invest in a good piece of headgear to beat the heat, says designer Kunal Rawal. He breaks down the different kinds of caps.

In Entourage, Turtle’s affinity towards the baseball cap is such that it defines his look

Invest in a good piece of headgear to beat the heat, says designer Kunal Rawal. He breaks down the different kinds of caps.

Would you believe me if I told you that there was a time when I was obsessed with visors? Yes, those open top hats that Andy Roddick wore back in the day. I’ve been secretly waiting for them to make a comeback, but to no avail. So, it isn’t something I’d advise you to wear either. Unless you’re on a golf course.

And even then, with the sun beating down relentlessly, you perhaps need a little more protection. All in all, there’s never been a better time to talk about headgear. The options are endless: bowlers, sun hats, trilbys, berets, Panama hats, top hats, beanies, baseball and trucker caps… You get the drift.

So how does one pick? The one word answer, as often isn’t with fashion, is comfort. Pick something that’s practical, and that you feel confident about carrying off.

Think about characters from films or TV shows. Remember Turtle from Entourage? His affinity towards the baseball cap is such that it defines his look. If you’re just as comfortable, you can wear it all day, evening and night.

Then, of course, there’s the Panama hat, another popular-in-the-movies headgear. Farhan Akhtar’s character, Imraan, in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, wears one right through their Spanish road trip. The problem with hats in Indian films, though, is that they’ve come to reference holidays: Shah Rukh Khan in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Need we say more? And that’s somehow made hats in cities more of a rarity.